A Goodwood guide to esports – F1, IndyCar, Veloce and more | GRR
As the motorsport calendar worldwide faces postponements, cancellations and uncertainty, there's one unlikely ray of light: esports. To keep their audiences engaged and keep motorsport on televisions, many race series are turning to the virtual world.
Esports is essentially competitive video gaming. With racing games, drivers require much of the same skill set – and indeed many pro drivers put in as much time on the simulators as they do in the real cars. Lando Norris and Max Verstappen, both stars of Formula 1, were well known in sim-racing circles before they turned a wheel in an F1 car.
With advanced physics and graphics, the spectacle of racing esports rivals regular motorsport, and with no lives on the line, the drivers are free to have more fun in the process.
If you want to keep up with all the esports racing action, and enjoy televised motorsport during these unusual times, we've put together a helpful guide.
F1 Virtual Grand Prix
This series is staged by Formula 1 itself, replacing those grands prix it has had to cancel or postpone due to the coronavirus pandemic, using its official F1 2019 game. It features some of the sport's pro drivers mixed with big names from the past and potentially the future, along with some celebrity guests.
F1 will broadcast all of the races on its YouTube, Twitch, and Facebook channels, and on the official F1.com website. The next race is Sunday, April 5th.
IndyCar iRacing Challenge
IndyCar has seen its calendar shift too, with even the Indy 500 postponed from May to August. It has partnered with PC simulator iRacing to run an official, six-race series, over successive Saturdays starting March 28th. The star-studded line-up includes 25 current IndyCar drivers with six championship titles between them – including defending champ Josef Newgarden.
IndyCar will broadcast the event on its Facebook and YouTube channels, with each race starting at 8pm GMT.
NASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series
Like IndyCar, NASCAR is keeping its pros busy with a virtual series on iRacing while it can't stage its real-world race series. The first race on March 22nd drew almost a million viewers on Fox Sports in the USA, breaking the record for a televised video game event in the USA. Racers include past and present NASCAR drivers, with Denny Hamlin passing Dale Earnhardt Jr. at the line last week.
Fox will air all of the rest of the series, starting with the Texas Motor Speedway round on Sunday March 29th. If you don't have access to Fox, the NASCAR on Fox YouTube channel will also show the races.
FIA WTCR Esports Online Championship
The World Touring Car Championship will run an unusual pro-am series, where 10 of the series' pro drivers – including champion Norbert Michelisz – will take part in races every other Monday and 20 of the best players can join them. There'll be online qualifiers for players in the free-to-play PC sim RaceRoom Racing Experience, which are open now, ahead of the first race on April 6th.
All four races will be broadcast on the official FIA WTCR YouTube channel.
Veloce Esports
Veloce is one of the better known esports teams, and manages Alfa Romeo F1's esports. It's been running as “Not the... GP Series”, also in F1 2019, featuring a range of past and present F1 drivers, along with celebrities from the esports scene - streamers and drivers from the F1 Esports series. There'll also be the Veloce Pro Series on non-F1 weekends, with pro drivers including Norris.
The races take place each Sunday at 6pm GMT, live on Veloce's YouTube channel.
The Race All-Star Esports Battle
Torque Esports and The Race have been staging substitute races featuring drivers from across the motorsport and esports spectrum since the postponement of the Australian Grand Prix. The races, using professional simulator rFactor 2, take place each Sunday. That continues this Sunday, with an added “Legends Trophy” for drivers over 40 – which is set to include Emerson Fittipaldi.
You'll be able to watch the events on The Race's YouTube channel, from 4pm GMT.
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